
Class foY 1065 

Book ^4»W 3 

Copyright^N 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 



A TYPICAL GENERAL SECRETARY 
THE LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 




<i<&^u<c< 




*S 



A TYPICAL 
GENERAL SECRETARY 

THE LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 



George A. Warburton 



"Simple, modest, frank, manly, he was the 
good citizen, the self-respecting gentleman, the 
symmetrical man. ' ' 

— George William Curtis , 

Essay on Longfellow. 



New York 
Young Men's Christian Association Press 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

DEC "9 1808 

trv Copyrient Entry 
cuss Qu XXc, No, 



3Vio?s 



Copyright, 1908, by 

The International Committee of 

Young Men's Christian Associations 






P3791 



FOREWORD 

TN writing this biography of my friend 
* I have thought of him as a repre- 
sentative man among those who, like 
himself, have devoted their lives to the 
building up of Christian character and 
the increase of Christian service among 
young men through the General Secre- 
taryship of the Young Men's Christian 
Association. He was as truly typical 
of this very important leadership — I 
had almost said of this highest art — as 
was Saint Gaudens in sculpture, and as 
one who wished to show the lofty mis- 
sion of art in ennobling the ideals of a 
people might use the life of the most 
eminent artist to do so — making it 
serve as a fulcrum for his lever — I have 
hoped that this little volume might 
promote a similar end in showing clear- 
ly the value of the personal equation 
and the type of gifts and graces needed 
in those who may hope for success in 
this field of Christian work. 

G. A. W. 



BROOKLYN BIOGRAPHY COMMITTEE 

D. W. McWlLLIAMS 

Edwin Packard 
H. L. Simmons 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Frontispiece, Mr. See's Latest Photograph 

PAGE 

Edwin F. See at Seventeen — While a 
sophomore at Rutgers . . .25 

Edwin F. See at Twenty-two — During 
his Albany pastorate . . .31 

The Third Reformed Church of Albany, 
N. Y.— Of which Mr. See was Pastor 37 

Edwin F. See at Twenty-five — Soon after 
becoming secretary of the Brooklyn 
Association . . . . . 51 Y 

Eastern District Branch Building 
—Opened April, 1906 . . .59 

Bedford Branch Building — Opened Octo- 
ber, 1906 73 

Greenpoint Branch Building — Opened 
November, 1907 . . .83 



CHAPTER I 

THE ANCESTRY FROM WHICH MR. SEE 

SPRANG TARRYTOWN AND 

ITS ATMOSPHERE 

TT is always an interesting question 
A how far the traits that a man is 
known to have may be said to be the re- 
sult of inheritance and how far they are 
the product of his early environment. 
In some the natural bent of the charac- 
ter and personality are so strong that 
environment seems to exert but little 
influence. The life has within itself so 
many elements of persistence that it 
goes steadily on in the work of bringing 
to full fruition that which belongs to it 
as its heritage, and is never shaped or 
swerved very much by anything ex- 
ternal. We say such seems to be the 
case, for the truth probably is that 
every man is, as Whitman in his 
egotism said he was, "the acme of 
all things accomplished" and also the 
11 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

resultant of the currents of life by 
which he is touched, especially in the 
days of his childhood and youth. Then, 
too, we are apt to read into a man's 
early life those qualities which we 
know him to possess in his maturity, 
so that around the childhood of many 
distinguished men a mass of legendary 
story is thrown by biographers and 
others who seek to account for their 
fully developed character. 

The life of the subject of this biog- 
raphy was the product of many strong 
natural influences. He was born of 
good stock. He came into being in an 
atmosphere of piety. He was nurtured 
in surroundings calculated to develop 
his literary tastes. 

Tarrytown nestles in the beautiful 
valley on the banks of the Hudson just 
where that river is broadest, widening 
out into the Tappan Zee. Looking 
across it the eye rests upon the hills of 
Rockland County, and to the south the 

12 



ANCESTR Y—TARR YTOWN 

Palisades rise in their cool majesty. 
The village itself is full of historical 
and legendary associations. In Revo- 
lutionary times it was the center of 
supreme interest, for the place of the 
capture of Major Andre by the three 
Continentals, Williams, Paulding and 
Van Wart, is marked by a monument 
on the principal thoroughfare. 

In the old Sleepy Hollow cemetery 
is to be seen the grave of Washington 
Irving, and several village institutions 
bear his illustrious name. The Pocan- 
tico winds slowly down by the graves 
of the slumbering dead and passes 
under the bridge where Ichabod Crane, 
the pedagogue, was frightened out of 
his wits by the headless horseman. To 
the south a mile or two stands "Sun- 
nyside," Irving's home, where he 
gathered his literary friends around him 
and where he wrote many of his im- 
mortal works. The rector of one of 
the village churches was Irving's min- 

13 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

ister and talks familiarly of his experi- 
ences with America's first famous lit- 
erary man. The old Dutch church of 
Sleepy Hollow is still standing in the 
midst of the graves of the old burghers, 
its bell and some of the bricks having 
been brought from Holland in 1685. 

There is an indescribable charm about 
the place and a spell is thrown over even 
a casual visitor from which it is difficult 
to escape. It is no wonder, therefore, 
that Edwin F. See gave early evidence 
of this subtle influence by choosing as 
the subject of his first literary composi- 
tion "Tarrytown and Its Vicinity," an 
essay that is preserved and that shows 
him to have come under the power of 
the historic and literary atmosphere. 

The roots of the See family go back 
into rich historic soil. It can be traced 
on the paternal side to Thomas Bene- 
dict of Nottinghamshire, who was born 
in 1617, and who, "rather than endure 
the cruel oppression of the Stuarts, went 

14 






ANCESTR Y—TARR YTOWN 

into voluntary exile" and came to New 
England in 1638 and later removed to 
Southold, Long Island. He was after- 
wards identified with the founding 
of the First Presbyterian Church, of 
Jamaica, Long Island. In the gene- 
alogy of the Benedict family we meet 
with a record of church membership 
and of various official positions held. 
One was "active in obtaining a minis- 
ter and in hyering a schoolmaster' ' and 
with the dawn of the Revolutionary 
period, Joseph, the fourth in the line 
of descent (born May 20, 1730, O. S.), 
who had settled in South Salem, West- 
chester County, became the captain of 
the Second Company of the Fourth 
New York Continental Regulars on 
June 28, 1775; became major in 1777, 
and was afterwards lieutenant colonel 
of the Associated Exempts. His son 
Joseph, born October 11, 1750, also 
served in the Continental Army and 
was a Revolutionary pensioner. He 

15 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

became active in the militia, advancing 
from captain to lieutenant colonel. It 
was of such stock Edwin F. See's 
father, J. Benedict See, sprang through 
the marriage of William See to Rebecca 
Newman, who was the daughter of 
John Newman and Hannah Benedict. 
Mixed with this good blood was that 
of the See family, the ancestors of 
which had moved from Harlem to 
Stat en Island in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, the early records showing that the 
Sees obtained two farms on Karle's 
Neck by patents of September 29, 1677. 
The removal to Staten Island was due 
to the difficulty of purchasing land for 
farming purposes on the upper part of 
Manhattan Island. The family re- 
moved later to Phillips Manor (where 
the name was originally written Sie), 
and various members of it became 
identified with the church life of the 
place, being members of the first con- 
sistory of the old Dutch Church of 

16 



ANCESTR Y—TARR YTOWN 

Sleepy Hollow. The strain of blood 
on the maternal side is traced in the 
family records to the Hudsons on one 
side and to the Bileys on the other. It 
was of this Hudson family that Com- 
modore William L. Hudson sprang, 
and it was he who commanded the 
Wilkes Antarctic Expedition and dis- 
covered Hudson Island in 1842, which 
was named for him. He also com- 
manded the ship Niagara which laid the 
first Atlantic cable. He was a very 
religious man. "Captain Hudson, de- 
vout as he was gallant, after the cable 
had been drawn to its anchorage on 
shore, surrounded by his crew, with 
uncovered heads, fell upon his knees, 
and beneath the stars gave thanks to 
Almighty God for His gracious favor, 
and for the new power then born into 
the world. " # 



*Rev. Dr. William Adams, at a dinner given by Cyrus 
W. Field to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 
signing of the agreement to form the New York, New- 
foundland and London Cable Company. 

17 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

Mr. See's mother was Charlotte S. 
Riley. Her mother, Grace Sands 
Hudson, was twice married, first to 
Isaac See and from this union came 
Rev. John L. See, D. D., Rev. 
William G. E. See, and Rev. Isaac 
M. See. Isaac See died December 25, 
1829, and his widow was married to 
Horace Riley on May 14, 1835. The 
first fruit of this union was a son, Robert 
Hudson, the second Horace Goodrich, 
and the third a daughter, Charlotte 
Southack, from whom, through her 
marriage with Joseph Benedict See, 
Edwin Francis See was born. His 
birth occurred on January 29, 1861. 



18 



CHAPTER II 

EARLY EDUCATION 

ZOOMING from such ancestry, in 
^^ which independence and patriot- 
ism were blended, and being born in such 
a place as Tarrytown, where the Dutch 
settlers had early provided for the cul- 
ture of religion and where American 
literature as a distinctive type may be 
said to have taken its rise in Washing- 
ton Irving, who not only interpreted 
the spirit of the Hudson Valley and 
gave it expression in numerous histori- 
cal sketches, but who also added to the 
dreamy charm of the place by the crea- 
tions of his fancy, it is no wonder that 
young See developed a fondness for 
literature and a devotion to religion. 
It is rather surprising to find in his 
early life but small trace of the strong 
American setting to which his life nat- 
urally belonged; he was a patriot, but 

19 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

neither as boy or man did he seem to 
be dominated by patriotism as a con- 
trolling passion. 

Mr. See's early education was ob- 
tained at the Irving Institute, a private 
school of high standing and good repute 
in Tarrytown. His naturally vivacious 
temperament did not hinder his making 
good progress with his studies, for from 
the beginning he took high rank, espe- 
cially in writing compositions, which, 
though they show no remarkable gifts, 
indicate his thoroughness and pains- 
taking habits by the way in which they 
were prepared, as well as in their care- 
ful preservation. When he graduated 
from the Institute at the age of fifteen 
years he read an essay for which he 
won the prize, he having already won 
several prizes for his literary work. 

It was at this period of his life that 
he formed the habit of writing out from 
memory the sermons that he heard 
preached, a habit which doubtless had 

20 



EARLY EDUCATION 

much to do with his ability afterwards 
to deliver addresses substantially as 
they were prepared, without the aid of 
his carefully written manuscript. 

At the end of his life Mr. See de- 
clared that his religion had not been of 
an emotional type, and it was a true 
estimate of that vital element in him, 
which, from his earliest years, held him 
to the performance of his duty with a 
singular fixedness of purpose. His high 
regard for religious education was partly 
a reflection of his own experience, for 
he had entered into fellowship with the 
Christian church through the gradual 
unfolding of his spiritual life, the daily 
drinking in of religious truth and the 
steady purpose to live uprightly in the 
world. He experienced no convulsive 
change, no great emotional crisis, so 
that the act of joining the church was 
only the outward and public confes- 
sion of a faith which he had always 
been taught to hold and which he had 
21 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

never denied, either by his inner feel- 
ings or his outward conduct. His con- 
version was not Pauline, a bright light 
bursting upon his spirit in the glare of 
midday ; it was rather the unfolding of 
the flower of piety under the warmth 
of a May morning, a flower that had 
been carefully nourished and fed by the 
influence of godly parents, the teaching 
of the Sunday-school, the preaching of 
a devoted minister and by the influ- 
ence of those who in the Irving Insti- 
tute guided him in his first entrance to 
the wide fields of secular knowledge, 
for they were also devoted Christians 
and by example and precept cooper- 
ated with those who labored towards 
these best ends in the home and in the 
church. He joined the First Reformed 
Church of Tarry town in 1875, the same 
organization with which his ancestors 
were connected when it was the Dutch 
Church of Sleepy Hollow, being re- 
ceived by the Rev. John Knox Allen, 



EARLY EDUCATION 

who was then and is still the pastor, 
and between whom and Mr. See there 
existed a lifelong friendship. 



23 




Edwin F. See at Seventeen 
While a Sophomore at Rutgers 



CHAPTER III 

COLLEGE AND SEMINARY 

TT was quite natural that Mr. See 
should prepare for his life work by 
attending the college of the denomina- 
tion with which he had connected him- 
self, so that having finished his prepara- 
tion at Irving Institute he was admitted 
to Rutgers College at the age of fifteen, 
much younger than most, if not all, of 
the men in his class. In his college life 
Mr. See was successful in winning sev- 
eral prizes for literary work. An essay 
which he wrote during his junior year 
upon the Negro problem was very 
highly commended by the judges and 
brought him the prize, though without 
competition. It was in his junior year 
that he made Phi Beta Kappa, being 
among the first eight or ten men in his 
class in general scholarship. He was a 
member of the Chi Psi fraternity, but 

25 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

he does not seem to have been very 
active in the Christian work of the 
college during his course. He was only 
a boy and had not come to maturity. 
His vitality and fondness for fun enabled 
him to enjoy all of the good times that 
belonged to college life. He specialized 
while in college in history and in com- 
position and ranked as the best writer 
of his class and as a good orator. "The 
strength and sanity of his life even in 
college was conspicuous. ? ' 

He exhibited his painstaking habits 
as an assistant in the library, which was 
just at that time being classified and 
changed from a mere ' 'mob of books. ' ' 
The librarian under whom he worked 
speaks thus of him: "He was most 
helpful in suggestion and efficient in 
work; he had already catalogued and 
otherwise made his own library a ready 
instrument. He showed both foresight 
and a power of adaptation. Many of 
the wonderful characteristics of the later 

26 



COLLEGE AND SEMINARY 

general secretary of the Brooklyn Young 
Men's Christian Association were de- 
veloping and even manifested in his 
work as assistant librarian. ' ' 

During his seminary course he became 
the president of the Society of Inquiry, 
and in his inaugural address exhibits 
the same practical turn of mind which 
afterwards characterized him. He 
urged upon his fellow members the 
necessity of individual effort to the 
success "of this as any other under- 
taking, ' ' and having announced that as 
his subject proceeded to emphasize his 
position by straightforward and very 
practical remarks, concluding: "In 
what I have said I have proceeded on 
the assumption that this society has a 
mission in this seminary and that it can 
be made productive of good to its mem- 
bers. # # # Either it ought to exist 
or it ought not to exist. If the latter 
be the case let us have a formal meet- 
ing, present our possessions to the 

27 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

library, disband the organization and 
cease to be ; but as long as we show by 
leaving our names attached to the con- 
stitution and by-laws of the society that 
we think it has a right and mission in 
the life of the seminary, let us back up 
our profession by our deeds, and give 
to the meetings of the society our 
presence and our mutual support. ' ' 

One of the papers which he presented 
before this same society was upon the 
subject, "How Far Shall the Social 
Element be Cultivated in the Church?" 
In this paper he urged the importance 
of the social life as a means of promoting 
mutual respect and acquaintance ; sug- 
gested the difficulties of the situation 
in a church ' 'which was originally com- 
posed of good old conservative Dutch 
stock" upon which "has been grafted 
the more progressive and more wealthy, 
and I may say the more highly educated 
class of today." He gives the picture 
of "Mr. A., a wealthy merchant from 



COLLEGE AND SEMINARY 

New York, and Mr. B., an old lawyer, 
with theirfamilies, promenading through 
the various rooms, receiving the un- 
divided attention of all whom they 
would condescend to notice. Theirs to 
have the first cup of coffee and the 
largest piece of cake ; also Mr. Y. and 
Mr. Z. , the shoemaker and blacksmith, 
in some obscure corner, find comfort in 
mutually venting their spleen on 'them 
'ristocratic bigbugs'!" Thus early in 
life he thought upon a grave social 
problem ! 

He also urged the gratification of the 
social instinct so as to make the church 
life attractive to the young. And ' 'who 
wonders that young men and women 
full of life and activity are gradually 
drawn away from the church which 
affords them no outlet for the use of 
their powers and does not minister in 
the least to their social nature? It is 
very well to stand up in the pulpit and 
decry the theatre and dance, but how 

29 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

much better to offer a more innocent 
substitute in the enjoyment of which 
young people will not only profit them- 
selves but others." His conservative 
temper leads him to utter a caution 
"that it is not well to encourage the 
social element in the church to such an 
extent as to lose sight of its paramount 
object." 



30 




Edwin F. See at Twenty-two 
During His Albany Pastorate 



CHAPTER IV 

PASTORATE IN ALBANY 

TPON his graduation he was called 
^ to the pastorate of the Third 
Reformed Church of Albany, New 
York, and he entered upon his duties 
with his usual vigor and pursued them 
with increasing success. It was a 
church located in a section of the city 
from which the population was moving, 
but Mr. See's youth and manliness 
soon gave him a following among the 
young men of the place to whom he 
preached a series of special sermons. 
So large did the attendance of men be- 
come that it was necessary to request 
the ladies of the congregation to at- 
tend elsewhere in order that accommo- 
dations might be found for young men. 

It was while in Albany that Mr. See 
became interested in the work of the 
Young Men's Christian Association. 

31 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

The Albany Association had had a 
checkered experience. Originally one 
of the first to be organized in the State 
of New York, and being for a time 
very vigorous, dissensions had arisen 
and the work was abandoned for many 
years. In the year 1881, through the 
efforts of the state secretary, the Rev. 
George A. Hall, the Association was 
reorganized and aggressive religious 
work undertaken, with Mr. John H. 
Elliott as general secretary. Mr. 
Elliott was succeeded in 1884 by Mr. 
Frank W. Ober, now the editor of 
Association Men, and it was through 
Mr. Ober that Mr. See's interest was 
aroused in the activities of the Young 
Men's Christian Association. 

Speaking afterwards of his Albany 
pastorate and of the influence of the 
Association upon it he said: "I love 
the Albany Young Men's Christian 
Association. Whatever of results may 
have come to my humble ministry in 

32 



ALBANY PASTORATE 

your midst a few years ago must be at- 
tributed to the influence of the Holy 
Spirit. Whatever inspiration as to 
methods of work, must be credited to 
the Young Men's Christian Association 
of this city. I came to this city preju- 
diced against the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association and its work. This 
Association converted me and I went 
from this place so thoroughly believing 
in the work of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association that I was willing to 
give my life to it. ' ' 

While he was pastor in Albany, Mr. 
D. L. Moody conducted a series of 
evangelistic services there, and Mr. See 
served as the secretary of the ministerial 
committee and was thus brought into 
contact with the great evangelist, who 
was always quick to discover the special 
gifts of men, and whose practical mind 
was particularly keen in finding out 
those who were endowed with capacity 
for executive work. He called Mr. 

33 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

See's attention to the general secretary- 
ship of the Young Men's Christian 
Association and became one of the 
chief factors in leading him finally to 
take it up. 

In February, 1886, the State Con- 
vention of the Association was held in 
the city of Elmira, and at that meeting 
Mr. See delivered the opening address 
upon the subject, "The Aims, the 
Needs, and the Encouragements of the 
Young Men's Christian Association." 

The committee from the Brooklyn 
Association, consisting of Mr. Frederick 
B. Schenck and Mr. Edwin Packard, 
was present and entered into conference 
with him about becoming the general 
secretary of the Association in Brook- 
lyn. The Brooklyn Association had 
recently come into possession of its new 
building, the gift of the residuary lega- 
tees of the estate of Frederick Mar- 
quand, and this building was considered 
to be the finest building then in exist- 

34 






ALBANY PASTORATE 

ence. The Association had also secured 
an endowment fund of $150,000. The 
Association had maintained an exist- 
ence from 1853, when Brooklyn con- 
tained a population of less than 150,000, 
and although the city had reached a 
population of 710,000 at this time there 
were evidences to be seen in every direc- 
tion of a still larger development in the 
years to come. The committee pressed 
the magnitude of the opportunity upon 
Mr. See with great vigor and intelli- 
gence and were seconded by Mr. Moody, 
who had already spoken to Mr. See 
about the opportunities to be found in 
the work of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, and by Mr. Hall, whose 
enthusiasm and devotion made a deep 
impression on Mr. See's life. After 
considering the matter prayerfully for a 
month Mr. See resigned his pastorate 
and took up his new work, the work to 
which with conspicuous success the 
balance of his life was to be given. 

35 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

The breaking up of the ties of friend- 
ship and affection which had been estab- 
lished in Albany was not easy for a 
man of such warmth of heart as Mr. 
See. He had been invited to become 
pastor of several large churches but had 
declined, so strong was his attachment 
for his Albany field, and so successful 
was he in it, but he felt very clearly 
the call of God to the new duty, and 
he entered upon it full of large expecta- 
tion and with calm reliance upon the 
leading of God in the doing of the great 
task that was set before him. 



36 




The Third Reformed Church of Albany, N. Y. 
Of which Mr. See was Pastor 



CHAPTER V 

THE BEGINNING IN BROOKLYN 

A VERY definite idea of the state of 
^^^ mind in which Mr. See came to his 
new work is shown in his address at 
the welcome reception which was 
tendered to him by the Brooklyn 
Association : 

"If you will pardon these references 
to myself I will tell you why I am 
here — why I left a church with which 
my relations were more than harmo- 
nious, which was as dear to me as the 
apple of my eye, in order to accept the 
general secretaryship of this Associa- 
tion ; I may sum it all up in one word 
by saying that I have come here for 
the sake of the young manhood of a 
great city. Is there not need of well- 
nigh superhuman efforts in behalf of 
the young men of our day? There is 
need, for one thing, because of the 

37 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

demands the age is making upon them 
— not the demands which will be made 
in future years upon those who are 
young men now, and who will be older 
men then. I am not thinking of the 
rising generation coming up to fill the 
place of the fathers as did Luther's 
teacher, who used to take off his hat in 
the presence of his scholars because 
among them were burgomasters, doc- 
tors, chancellors, and magistrates. But 
I am thinking of the demands which 
are made in this day upon young men 
in their young manhood. You will 
call to mind young men who are occu- 
pying prominent editorial chairs, young 
men who stand at the helm of large 
financial interests, young men who 
rank high in political and governmental 
control. I need not dwell upon the 
old story of the achievements of young 
men. It would contain the names of 
such as Alexander and Napoleon, 
Raphael and Byron, Hamilton and 

38 



THE BROOKLYN BEGINNING 

Pitt and the Son of God and Son of 
Man Himself. Whether the placing 
of young men in positions of responsi- 
bility and influence is wise or not, it is 
not for us to inquire at this time. The 
demand has been made — the question 
is, How is it to be met? 

"How is it being met? What are 
the influences that are uppermost in 
the minds of the young men of our 
day? For every one young man who 
is still susceptible to home influences, 
who is within the reach of the Sunday- 
school, who is within the pale of the 
church and the Young Men's Christian 
Association, there are ten who are no 
longer swayed by a mother's word, 
who consider themselves too old even 
for the Bible class, and who would 
rather roam the streets than attend the 
services of God's house. It is esti- 
mated that only five per cent of the 
young men of the country are church 
members; that only fifteen per cent 

39 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

attend church services with any regu- 
larity, and that seventy-five per cent 
never go to church at all. On the 
other hand it is appalling to learn from 
the chaplain of Auburn prison that of 
the 1500 men in that institution, the 
average age is twenty-three and one- 
third years; concerning a House of 
Correction in a western city that 1172 
of its 1773 inmates are young men 
between the ages of sixteen and thirty- 
two; concerning an eastern State 
Penitentiary where there are no boys, 
that the average age of the nineteen 
hundred prisoners is less than twenty- 
four years. Thus our young men are 
fitting themselves not only for the 
responsibilities which they will have to 
assume in later years, but also for 
those duties which the world would 
gladly throw upon their shoulders now. 
And it is upon these young men with 
their grand possibilities and capabilities 
that the forces of evil are concentrated. 

40 



THE BROOKLYN BEGINNING 

It is upon them that the saloon, with 
the finest front that is presented to the 
street and the most attractive interior 
that may be found in a public place, 
turns its chiefest enticements. It is 
upon them that the gambling den turns 
loose its swiftest decoys. It is upon 
them that the gilded home of vice fixes 
its strongest seductions. And it is for 
these young men that the Young 
Men's Christian Association exists, and 
it is to help along in this grand work 
that I am here. ' ' 

From that day until the day of his 
death his body, mind and spirit, his 
natural and highly cultivated gifts, were 
used to accomplish the uplifting of the 
young men of Brooklyn, while at the 
same time he was much sought after as 
a speaker at Association anniversaries 
and conventions, and as a preacher in 
the various churches of his own and 
other denominations both in Brooklyn 
and throughout the continent. 

41 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

We have seen that the life of Mr. 
See was entirely lacking in spectacular 
features. Beginning in a staid, con- 
servative village, developing under in- 
fluences well calculated to bring out 
the best that was in him, coming to 
the assertion of independent life under 
conditions favorable to sound learning, 
manifesting a conscientiousness and 
thoroughness in any appointed task, he 
occupied but two posts of duty during 
his mature life : one that of his pastor- 
ate in Albany and the other that of the 
Brooklyn general secretaryship. It is 
by his remarkable work in the second 
position which he held that he made 
his chief contribution to the life of his 
time. In order that we may know 
how large a work it really was that he 
did, we must think of the office which 
he held, and of what it represents in 
the Christian life of the world, and 
especially of the North American 
continent. 

42 



CHAPTER VI 

THE EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN 
ASSOCIATION IDEA 

TfyTHILE the Young Men's Chris- 
* * tian Associations bear the same 
name now that they did when they 
were first formed they would not be 
recognized by one of their members 
who had died during the first few years 
of their existence, if he should come 
back to life and visit them now. Many 
of them were engaged in all kinds of 
religious work and were content that 
their w^ork should be done by young 
men with no thought that the under- 
takings of the organization should be as 
carefully restricted to the class indicated 
by the name that it bore, as that its 
active control should be kept in the 
hands of the Christian young men of 
the community. There was hardly any 
good impulse aroused in the hearts of 

43 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

Christian people that they did not turn 
to the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion to give that impulse effectiveness. 
All kinds of eleemosynary and religious 
work were taken up by various Associa- 
tions and it required the experience of 
years to discover what is now clear to 
all, that the field of the Young Men's 
Christian Association can never be out- 
side of the young manhood of the city 
in which it exists, and that concentra- 
tion upon that field is always sure to 
bring a recognition of the value of the 
agency that undertakes it and a vast 
increase of productive effectiveness. In 
various sections of the country the 
Associations groped for their true place. 
Some became a general evangelistic 
agency and only by special emphasis 
worked for young men. To reach the 
masses was regarded as the Associa- 
tion's duty. It seemed providential to 
those who stood for this type of work 
that such an agency, undenominational 

44 



MODERN ASSOCIATION IDEA 

and with the fire of youth both in itself 
as an entity and in the men who com- 
posed it, should be ready for such 
undertakings. Many of the leading 
evangelists, among them D. L. Moody 
and L. W. Munhall, were both the 
product and the prophets of this idea. 
Chicago was the center from which 
these influences radiated. But gradu- 
ally, and chiefly by the influence of 
the International Committee, with its 
headquarters finally located in New 
York City, and by the example of New 
York City itself, the modern Associa- 
tion idea, that the work of the Associa- 
tions must not only be by, but for, 
young men, prevailed over that of its 
general evangelistic mission. 

The fundamental idea which lies at 
the basis of Young Men's Christian 
Association work was so full of vitality 
that it could not be prevented from de- 
veloping and increasing in strength and 
influence. The work of the first Asso- 

45 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

ciations was not broad but almost 
exclusively confined to the conduct of 
religious meetings; but they steadily 
enlarged their conception of duty and 
the scope of their activities until they 
ministered to nearly all of the multitudi- 
nous needs of the life of young men — 
social, educational and physical, as well 
as distinctly religious. It soon became 
apparent that a new kind of specialized 
leadership would be necessary in order 
that this vigorous sociological agency 
might be utilized to the fullest extent 
for the uplifting of men, and so gradu- 
ally there was developed a new type of 
professional Christian worker, known 
as the general secretary of the Young 
Men's Christian Association, the name 
decided upon as the best of many sug- 
gested in 1871, or about twenty years 
after the first Associations were formed 
on this continent in Montreal and 
Boston. This officer is the executive 
of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 

46 



MODERN ASSOCIATION IDEA 

tion which he serves. He is actually 
the most influential factor in shaping 
the policy that shall be adopted by the 
board of directors, and in executing the 
plans which are approved by the board. 
He is not often a minister, and the best 
traditions of his office require that he 
shall develop others and stimulate them 
to devote their gifts, time and means 
to this form of Christian activity, and 
that he shall become to the community 
an exponent of the idea of Christian 
work for young men and by young 
men. 

The Brooklyn Association was much 
slower to take up distinctive work for 
young men than was the Association 
of New York City. Brooklyn was and 
is preeminently a city of homes and a 
city of churches. The Association was 
close to the church life and was influ- 
enced by the demands of that life to a 
type of religious work that was dis- 
tinctively spiritual. Mr. Moody also 

47 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

had large influence with some of the 
leading men, and his ideas, as repre- 
sented by the Chicago work, had much 
to do with the development of the 
Association's activities in evangelistic 
meetings and in work somewhat of the 
mission type. The secretaryship had 
not been continuous, four men having 
held the office of general secretary since 
1875, while in New York City Mc- 
Burney had been from June, 1862, the 
executive officer and had shaped the 
policy of the board in cooperation with 
its members to a definiteness of work 
for young men which Brooklyn and 
many other strong Associations lacked. 
Nor was the equipment of Brooklyn at 
all adequate, and when that Association 
came into possession of its first modern 
building it found itself in need of a far 
more vigorous and comprehensive mind 
in its executive, and an enlargement of 
the scope of its undertakings to the full 
demand of the individual young man 

48 



MODERN ASSOCIATION IDEA 

in all of the complexity of his nature, 
and also the extension of the scope of 
the work to the whole of the rapidly 
developing community. In Mr. See 
the Association found the man that 
was needed, the man of culture and 
leadership, filled with an unselfishness 
of devotion that won for him and the 
work the love of as fine a body of co- 
laborers, especially among the young 
men, as could be found in any city. It 
was an advantage that Mr. See had 
been touched by the kind of Associa- 
tion work that first influenced him, for 
he did not need to unlearn anything. 
It was not a general but a distinctive 
work that had gripped him ; not a pul- 
pit or a platform that held out its allur- 
ing invitation, but the chance to organ- 
ize the forces of righteousness in a great 
city for the conquest of young men in 
the name of the Son of Man. While 
ministerial training is not usually sup- 
posed to furnish the best preparation 

49 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

for the secretarial office, it was never 
injurious in its effect upon See's life. 
This is the more remarkable when it is 
remembered that he was entirely with- 
out business training or experience. 
He had spent his life in school, but his 
naturally methodical habits made up in 
him for any lack of knowledge in busi- 
ness affairs, and while he was generally 
known as a minister this knowledge 
was never any barrier between him and 
other young men. When dealing with 
the affairs of the Association he took 
the standpoint of the layman with 
whom he worked, and when he spoke 
from the pulpit he entered into the 
fullest sympathy with his fellow clergy- 
men, and these elements united to 
make the Brooklyn Association work 
strong. 



50 







Edwin F. See at Twenty-five 

Soon after becoming Secretary or the Brooklyn 

Association 



CHAPTER VII 

THE BROOKLYN GENERAL 
SECRETARYSHIP 

IV/TR. SEE did a splendid piece of 
constructive work in Brooklyn. 
When he took up the general secretary- 
ship there the Association was just en- 
tering upon a new era of its life. The 
city itself was only beginning to feel 
the pressure of the great currents of 
population which have since inundated 
it. It was united to Manhattan Island 
by a single bridge and by the various 
ferries, but the transit thus provided 
was not good enough to insure the rapid 
growth of the city. Yet it was inevit- 
able that better means of communication 
should come, and with the general use 
of electricity for transit Brooklyn began 
to grow at a marvelously rapid pace. 
The outlying districts were built up and 
farms were divided into building plots 

51 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

which were occupied by dwellings, de- 
tached houses and apartments in which 
the people of the metropolis sought for 
homes within their means and away 
from the congested parts of New York. 
This growth of population brought with 
it an increasing number of young men 
and the Association was faced by the 
problem of adequately providing for 
them. Its one central building, though 
beautiful and commodious, was not suf- 
ficient, and under Mr. See's leadership 
Brooklyn soon followed the New York 
Association in the adoption of the 
metropolitan plan of organization, and 
gradually the various branches were 
developed under the direction of the 
central board. In all the years of pa- 
tient labor, of heroic giving, of large 
and ever expanding vision through which 
the Brooklyn Association has come to 
its present strength, Mr. See's leader- 
ship has been the largest human factor 
in bringing it all about, and he did it 

62 



BROOKLYN SECRETARYSHIP 

with such splendid self-effacement that 
not a few who have watched and won- 
dered at what has been done have hardly 
known who the moving spirit has been. 
In this, as in so many other ways, he 
was the embodiment of the best tradi- 
tions of the secretarial office. His ideas 
always carried weight with the sound 
business men by whom he was sur- 
rounded because they were the result 
of calm reflection and sound judgment 
and were never the outgrowth of whim 
or caprice. He knew Brooklyn from 
end to end, and was in touch with its 
best life and resources. With a courage 
born of his own conviction of duty, and 
buttressed by his own consciousness of 
unselfish devotion to the cause that he 
had espoused, his advocacy of a policy 
of extension was irresistible. He knew 
what was needed, he saw the possibili- 
ties of its accomplishment, he heard the 
divine call and led men into the larger 
and rapidly developing fields. Branches 

53 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

were formed, but better still they were 
amply supported from a strong center. 
Buildings were erected and manned 
with capable executives until at the end 
of his life Brooklyn ranked high as an 
Association center and was everywhere 
regarded as one of the leading cities of 
the United States in the expression of 
the Association idea. He always had 
in mind the three steps in the develop- 
ment of the Brooklyn work, extension 
in branches, equipment in buildings, 
and endowment ; and one of the regrets 
of his last conscious moments was that 
he could not live to help complete the en- 
dowment for the Brooklyn Association. 

So far as the growth of the Brooklyn 
Association can be expressed in figures, 
it is about as follows : 

In 1886 there was but one building, 
and in 1906 there were eleven. The 
membership had grown from 2500 to 
nearly 7000. The boys' department 
was not organized when he took control, 

54 



BROOKLYN SECRETARYSHIP 

and at the time of his death there were 
1200 members in four departments. 
The two Bible classes had developed 
into eighty- two, with 1300 students. 
The number of employees of the Asso- 
ciation had increased from fifteen to 
eighty, and the fifty subscribers to 1500. 
The average weekly attendance at re- 
ligious meetings had grown from 200 
to more than 1000 and the real estate 
of the Association and its endowment 
from the neighborhood of half a million 
to nearly a million and a half. 

A man's value to the world should 
never be judged by the amount of work 
that he performs, nor by the visible 
fruits of his labors in tangible results. 
The spirit with which he has wrought, 
the personal touch, the idealism, behind 
the labor of his hand or brain, the un- 
selfishness and generosity of his life by 
which his work is given its deepest and 
truest meaning, must enter into the 
account if one is to know the real value 

55 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

of a good man's life. So that a piece of 
work done by one man may be highly 
esteemed, and wrought by another may 
pass as trivial or lacking in significance. 
Bulk does not determine value, nor 
activity insure worthy results. 

The temper and spirit with which 
one works will fix his place among his 
fellow men far more surely than any 
other factor. It was this that gave 
George Hall his hold upon the Asso- 
ciation leaders of his time. Men loved 
him because they knew that he was 
tender, affectionate, warm-hearted, 
sympathetic. He made the office he 
held and was in no way dependent 
upon his title for his strong grip upon 
human hearts. With McBurney it was 
the same. Who ever thought of what 
he had done, so much as how he did it? 
It was the spirit rather than the deed. 
Those long years of absolute devotion 
to young men, passionate in the fervor 
of a strong man's love, sanctified by the 

56 



BROOKLYN SECRETARYSHIP 

holiness of a Christian unselfishness, 
were but one long exhibition of the 
inner spirit by which the best power 
of heart and brain were given up to the 
service of men. 

Judged by this higher standard Mr. 
See's administration in Brooklyn will 
remain one of the conspicuous examples 
of effective Christian service, and by it 
he won for himself a secure place in the 
esteem and affection of all Association 
men. 



57 




o 




fc 








Q 




J 








P 




PQ 






CO 


5J 


o 


o 


05 


£ 


1—1 




hf 


pq 




H 


<1 


u 






tt 


tf 


H 


H 


£ 


c» 


H 


Q 


o 


& 




tf 




w 




H 




cc 




<1 




W 





CHAPTER VIII 

ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE OF BROOKLYN 

TN the midst of all the work that 
occupied his mind and hands in his 
own particular field, Mr. See found 
time to make very large contributions 
to various Association undertakings 
for which he was not immediately or 
directly responsible. The most impor- 
tant service of this character which he 
rendered to outside Association work 
was the gradual development of the 
present graded system of Bible study. 
His training and habits as a Bible stu- 
dent enabled him to detect the weak- 
ness of the Association's Bible work 
and to supply what it had always lacked. 
In pressing Bible study as one of the 
essential features of the Association's 
activities he was following McBurney, 
who had stood as its champion and 
whose example in Bible teaching had 

59 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

been the largest single factor in holding 
the Associations true to a recognition 
of its importance. The difficulty had 
not been any lack of a clear conviction 
that such work should be done, but the 
Bible study had not had that breadth 
and adequacy which the work of Mr. 
See gave it. Not that scholarly men 
had not been secured as teachers of the 
Association Bible classes here and there, 
but there had been no unity of method, 
no uniformity of courses and no clear 
recognition of the fundamental ped- 
agogical principles upon which success- 
ful Bible study for men and boys must 
rest. 

Mr. See was not only a successful 
Bible teacher but a trainer of teachers 
in the Brooklyn Association. He was 
appointed the chairman of the commit- 
tee on Bible study for the State of New 
York, and in that place he made care- 
ful tabulations and prepared compre- 
hensive reports of the general conditions 

60 



OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES 

and then gradually evolved plans to 
meet the needs now being so generally 
felt. Acting largely under his in- 
spiration the International Committee 
brought together groups of men from 
different sections of the country to 
study the religious work and especially 
the Bible study, and he was invariably 
chosen to preside at these conferences, 
and he was practically Bible study 
director for the International Commit- 
tee for three years, preparing the first 
Bible Study Prospectus issued by the 
committee. 

Another very important piece of work 
which Mr. See was able to do was con- 
nected with the historic Buffalo Con- 
vention of 1904. For some time pre- 
ceding the convention the Associations 
of North America had been agitated 
by the discussion of what was the 
proper relationship which should exist 
between the International and State 
Committees, and between those com- 

61 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

mittees and the local Associations and 
branches. At the Boston International 
Convention, held in June, 1901, a com- 
mittee of twenty- one was appointed 
to " consider whether it is possible to 
devise a plan by which the relations 
of the International, State and local 
Associations, and the functions of each 
supervising agency may be more fully 
defined." 

There were wide differences of opin- 
ion as to what should be done, and as 
the discussion of the subject proceeded 
in the Association press and at the 
various Association gatherings, it be- 
came apparent that there was likely to 
be a serious division in the Association 
ranks unless such a calamity could be 
averted by the exercise of wise diplo- 
macy and by the overruling of a 
gracious Providence. Mr. See occupied 
at this time the position of unques- 
tioned priority among the general sec- 
retaries of the Associations of the 

62 



OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES 

country, and had held also an entirely 
independent and disinterested position 
with relation to the subjects that were 
then causing irritation. He felt that 
the position of each contending group 
was capable of being modified, and 
that the main body of Association 
members, directors and paid officers 
would be glad to have some harmonious 
result, rather than a perpetuation of 
discord and strife. He believed also 
that for either one or the other idea to 
gain an unqualified triumph at the 
Buffalo International Convention would 
be disastrous, and acting in harmony 
with his convictions he invited the co- 
operation of twelve or fourteen other 
employed officers to serve as a sort of 
committee of conciliation. His hope 
was that by this means the calamity 
which he felt to be impending might 
be averted. 

The body of men chosen by Mr. See 
had held some meetings previous to the 

63 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

convention, and had found that there 
was a spirit of fairness and conciliation 
existing among them, and throughout 
the brotherhood generally. Dr. L. L. 
Doggett thus describes the first impor- 
tant result of this conference : 

"This group of men felt that the first 
vital step was to secure the election of 
a thoroughly impartial and able presid- 
ing officer. They suggested the name 
for nomination of the Honorable Henry 
B. F. Macfarland, of Washington, 
who was unanimously elected. He was 
not in any way connected with either 
side of the controversy, and immediately 
won the respect, confidence, and loving 
regard of the entire body of delegates. 
He was a skilled parliamentarian, cour- 
teous, commanding, and impartial in 
all he did. To him more than any one 
else was due the harmonious and fra- 
ternal outcome of the convention." # 

As the discussion of the report of the 

* Association Seminar, June, 1904, page 325. 
64 



OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES 

Committee of Twenty-one and of the 
minority report proceeded in the con- 
vention, there was exhibited an unusual 
spirit of courtesy and Christian good- 
will on the part of the participants, and 
just at the time when such remarks 
were likely to be most effective, Mr. 
See was recognized by the chairman 
and made the following address, which 
may be taken as clearly indicating his 
point of view : 

"I represent a group of gentlemen, 
personal friends, who came together a 
few weeks ago and who included in 
their number some who were friends of 
sympathizers with the majority report 
and some who were friends of sympa- 
thizers with the minority report. As 
we proceeded we found a conciliatory 
spirit growing among us, and in the end 
substantial agreement that both reports 
were extreme and that there was a com- 
mon ground on which we might come 
together. After that we found that 

65 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

this sentiment had a wide existence in 
our brotherhood ; and we have therefore 
had a conference in this convention 
among ourselves and with representa- 
tives of both sides of this question, and 
we have prepared a series of amend- 
ments which we have now unanimously 
agreed upon after conference with gen- 
tlemen who represent the interests of 
both reports. 

"We would have you understand in 
advance that we are not proposing to 
present a compromise to you in the 
weak sense of that term as it is under- 
stood by some; but a compromise in 
the good old-fashioned meaning given 
by Webster when he says that it is 'a 
reciprocal abatement of extreme de- 
mands or rights resulting in agreement. ' 
It is that kind of compromise that we 
propose, in which we eliminate that 
which is extreme and incorporate strong, 
positive, definite statements without 
ambiguous phrases, that shall safe- 

66 






OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES 

guard the interests of our entire work. 
Before I sit down, let me ask of you, 
gentlemen, that you will keep an open 
mind during this series of proposed 
amendments. I appeal to you on the 
ground of the fraternity of our Associa- 
tions. I do not appeal to your senti- 
ment. I do not appeal to you even 
as Christian brethren. But I appeal to 
you on the basis of an historic argument 
and on the ground of common sense. 
For fifty years delegates have been 
coming together in these conventions. 
Next to its religious life the strongest 
element in the success of our brother- 
hood has been the keeping together of 
our men. Fifty years ago a group of 
men widely distributed geographically, 
not known to one another in advance, 
representing organizations doing various 
kinds of work, without traditions be- 
hind them, got together, not only in 
spirit but in fact and in polity; and 
shall we, fifty years having passed, with 

67 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

their uniting traditions behind us, knit 
together by a thousand personal friend- 
ships, shall we not come together? It 
would be a pity, a thousand pities, if 
we could not. ' ' 

The two important contributions 
that were made by the compromise 
group, as the body of secretaries was 
designated, were the securing of Mr. 
Macfarland as the governing officer, 
and the drafting of the amendments 
which were finally adopted substantially 
as they were presented to the conven- 
tion by Mr. Walter C. Douglas, of 
Philadelphia, who was selected for that 
purpose. 

Mr. See was the dominant factor in 
bringing about these good results. 
His relations with the International 
Committee were particularly close, and 
he appreciated fully the value of the 
service which that committee and its 
secretaries were rendering to the Asso- 
ciation cause in general; as a member 

68 



OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES 

of the State Committee of New York, 
he was jealous for the maintenance of 
the proper place in the Association 
economy for the State work, and as a 
general secretary of one of the greatest 
of American Associations, he saw 
clearly the advisability of preserving 
the autonomy of the local unit. 

Besides this, he had been so wise and 
kind in all of his personal relations with 
the Association men of the whole 
country as to have won their confidence 
in his sagacity, and in the judicial qual- 
ity of his mind, and it was to his per- 
sonal influence, as much as to any other 
single human factor, that the effective 
result of the effort at conciliation could 
be traced. 

The convention ended in a triumph 
of Christian feeling, the threatening 
cloud was overpast, and the unity of 
the brotherhood was again manifested 
to the world. 

Mr. See was a member of the board 

69 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

of trustees of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association Training School at 
Springfield, Mass., and was deeply in- 
terested in its work ; he was one of the 
oldest members of the Religious Edu- 
cation Association, and was three times 
invited to become its general secretary. 
His contributions to religious periodi- 
cals while not numerous were always 
stamped by a fine self-restraint, and 
were weighty in the messages that they 
bore. He was never a mere rhetorician 
using words for words' sake, but rather 
employing them as vehicles for well- 
considered thought. His book on ' 'The 
Teaching of Bible Classes, ' ' while writ- 
ten primarily as a text-book for normal 
classes, is really more than that; it 
places the result of modern psychology 
and pedagogy within reach of the Bible 
class teachers in the Association who 
may lack the advantages of higher edu- 
cational training, and it shows how 
closely related these subjects are to the 

70 






OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES 

most successful teaching of the Word 
of God. It has had a wide use among 
the Associations, especially at the train- 
ing and summer schools, and is a recog- 
nized standard in teacher training. 



71 




5 s© 



u 

pq 

P 
O 
P 



CHAPTER IX 

A SUMMARY OF HIS PERSONAL 
QUALITIES 

l\/f R. SEE was typical of the very 
best in the secretarial office. 
Without being a genius or being distin- 
guished in any particular way by gifts 
that would attract the attention of all 
before whom his life was lived, he had 
in him nearly all of the qualities that 
are required to be exercised in the 
position which he filled. To begin 
with he was dominated by a profound 
religious purpose. From boyhood rev- 
erence occupied a large place in his 
nature. He was devoted to Jesus 
Christ as to a personal friend. The 
placidity of his life was indicative of its 
depth. The great undercurrents were 
moving constantly toward God in affec- 
tionate devotion. He loved men as 
his brothers, because he loved God as 

73 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

his Father. He worked under a sense 
of individual responsibility for the use 
of his gifts and his time. There can 
be no true efficiency in such a work as 
he undertook without this fundamental 
thing in a man's life. The cross with 
its supreme sacrifice must find a re- 
sponse in the life of the man who 
would make the message of the cross 
effective in the lives of his fellows. It 
was therefore extremely natural that 
when Mr. See became a member of 
the New York State Committee he 
should be associated with the Bible 
study division of the religious work of 
that committee, and it was in that work 
that he rendered some of the best service 
of his life. 

He was also of an exceedingly practi- 
cal turn of mind. His religion being 
without fanaticism, it fitted itself into 
the life of other men by the use of 
natural channels of expression. His 
conception of the religious life was that 

74 



PERSONAL QUALITIES 

it should manifest itself in service, and 
he knew that in rendering service the 
standpoint of the one to be served must 
be taken rather than the standpoint of 
the one who would serve. This practi- 
cal quality in him accounted for his 
ability to do such an immense amount 
of work and to do each piece of work 
well. No one ever knew him to slight 
anything he undertook to do. He not 
only performed the duties of his par- 
ticular office acceptably but he recorded 
with the utmost care just what those 
duties were, and was therefore able 
when occasion required to give an 
account to those with whom he labored 
of the use of his time and strength. 
Among his papers 1 have found a com- 
plete record of all the engagements 
which he declined, and letters to the 
president of the Association stating the 
number of interviews he had had with 
the various branch secretaries, the 
number of board and committee meet- 

75 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

ings that he had attended, the work he 
had done in connection with the State 
and International Committees ; all given 
with such detail as to convey an exact 
idea of the amount of time and labor 
involved in each. It was because of 
this sane view of life and his recognition 
of the fact that he was living as a man 
among men and not occupying a ped- 
estal above his fellows that made him 
so much sought after in counsel. Most 
men do not wish the advice of those 
who are living a life so exalted as to 
render them ineffectual in practical 
affairs ; they rather turn with eagerness 
toward those who manifest the spiritual 
force of their being sanely and with 
practical efficiency. 

It was indispensable that Mr. See 
should have a large vision in order that 
his new field might be cultivated as it 
needed to be. The Brooklyn Associa- 
tion had assumed a prominence by the 
erection of its new building which 

76 



PERSONAL QUALITIES 

caused the entire brotherhood to turn 
their eyes toward it for a leadership 
which it had not yet shown. The New 
York Association had recently been re- 
organized upon the metropolitan plan 
when Mr. See took charge in Brooklyn, 
and after he had developed the work in 
the central building his first step was 
to encourage the formation of branches 
and the securing of buildings for them. 
During his administration no less than 
$915,740 were raised for this purpose 
and for securing proper equipment for 
the Brooklyn work, and in all of the 
great task of planning to raise the 
money and actually doing it Mr. See 
was the leading spirit. He saw the 
Brooklyn of the future. He knew that 
unless the Association was enlarged 
and spread out into the community by 
the organization of branches it could 
not possibly meet the needs of the city. 
It is always through such vision of 
tomorrow that the work of today can 

77 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

best be done. In connection with the 
State work this same aggressive, ven- 
turesome optimism was shown. He 
believed in the need of expansion and 
enlargement, of increase in money and 
men so that the kingdom of God might 
keep pace in its extension with the 
other organizations that had vitality. 

In his patience and transmittible 
enthusiasm he was typical of the very 
best in the secretarial brotherhood. 
His patience made him willing to wait 
for the consummation of his desires, 
his enthusiasm was like a fire shut up 
in his bones. He was not demonstra- 
tive, the fires that crackle most are not 
always the hottest, yet his friends all 
knew that down deep in his soul was 
hid the energy of a compelling passion ; 
the passion for God. 

Though quiet and rather reserved in 
the expression of his deepest thoughts 
to strangers, he was able to communi- 
cate this inner fervor to others and so 

78 



PERSONAL QUALITIES 

it came to pass that around him in 
Brooklyn he gathered a sturdy band of 
earnest men who were really devoted 
to him with a singular devotion, and 
when in State or International coun- 
cils he expressed his opinion or advo- 
cated any cause he compelled a ready 
following. 

The crowning thing in all his beauti- 
ful life was the depth and constancy, 
the genuineness and stability, of his 
personal friendships. The old Dutch 
blood in him when once set in a given 
course was not easily turned aside. 
Upon the first introduction he might 
be reserved and dignified, sometimes 
really formal as became a true cleric, 
but once this point of caution was 
passed he was your friend forever and 
a day ; his reserve disappeared and you 
were permitted to look into a nature as 
deep and transparent as some quiet 
mountain pond that lies forever above 
the bustle and the dust of the city. 

79 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

And such a friendship! The sparkle 
of wit, the freshness of repartee, the 
wealth of scholarship, the touch of 
sympathy were all there, and perhaps 
most notable of all, that capacity for 
discovering good in others that must 
always be the basis of true human 
friendliness. Affection is never soli- 
tary ; it is awakened only by its coun- 
terpart and it springs up within the 
soul when it hears an awakening call 
from the soul of another. 

In theology Mr. See was a construct- 
ive liberal. He grew less and less dog- 
matic, more and more tolerant. Life 
was to him far more than meat and the 
body more than raiment, and the fact 
of the inspiration of the Bible had a 
greater significance than any theory 
about it. He was influenced by mod- 
ernism, yet did not think it to be a 
part of his task to undermine the rever- 
ence of other men. As he grew older 
theological questions seemed less im- 

80 



PERSONAL QUALITIES 

portant and the practical bearing of 
religion upon life assumed the place of 
preeminence in his conception of the 
meaning and value of Christianity. He 
had no theological fads, and engaged 
in no theological controversies, though 
his own thought was clear upon such 
subjects and his own convictions deep. 
The reality of the historic Saviour, the 
possibility of fellowship with God, the 
necessity for the exhibition of Christian 
graces by men in all ranks of life, the 
certainty of divine help in daily life and 
service, these were the great things 
upon which he dwelt and these influ- 
enced him in his daily conduct because 
they were behind it at the very spring 
of his being, out of which rose the 
abundant streams of ennobling influence 
by which he blessed the world; and 
when he passed away he went out into 
the silence of death with calm, unruffled 
faith in the life that is immortal. 

During his last illness he was at his 

81 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

summer home at Greenlawn, Long 
Island, and he exhibited that unselfish- 
ness, that singular patience and placid- 
ity of temper which he showed through 
all of his active life. He kept up his 
touch with his work, and his correspond- 
ence with his friends. He thought 
first of all of Brooklyn and its young 
men, of the needs of the Association, 
and was deeply concerned to the very 
end that his own fondest hopes in a 
complete and adequate endowment 
could not be realized during his life. 
It was a beautiful ending of a beautiful 
life, where surrounded by his loved ones 
he led them in prayer, and with almost 
his last breath repeated that immortal 
song of praise by Bishop Kerr, * 'Praise 
God from whom all blessings flow." 
He passed into the immortal life on 
July 18, 1906. 




t^Ti 



2 








Q 




J *T 




S o 




p Oi 




« "1 


9W| . \ 




i ^ 


^ w 




5 § 




^ H 




tf > 


% 






55 R 




- W 




O fe 




cu w 




fc £ 




w O 




H 




£ 


"gTT™ / 


o 



APPENDIX 



The Appeal of the General Sec- 
retaryship to College Men # 

One of the most important papers 
which was written by Mr. See was 
"The Appeal of the General Secretary- 
ship to College Men/' and quotations 
from it will show what his conception 
of the office was : 

I. What need has the Young Men's 
Christian Association for general secre- 
taries? What appeal does it make to 
young men looking forward to their life 
work? Any one who has had anything 
to do with the filling of an important 
Association secretaryship within recent 
years, cannot fail to realize that the 
supply of men for the more important 
and responsible Association positions is 
inadequate to the demand. The men 
who are competent to fill these positions 

*This paper was read by Mr. See at the Northfield 
Student Conference, and elsewhere, and had a wide 
influence on college men. 

85 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

of responsibility are already congenially 
and usefully located, and as a result im- 
portant positions in the Association go 
begging for the right kind of secretaries. 
It may safely be said that the Asso- 
ciations have far outstripped in their 
acquisition of material equipment and 
in their numerical growth the increase 
of the number of men to take charge of 
these interests. We have added more 
large buildings than we have added 
competent secretaries to man them. 
We have secured the cooperation and 
support of a greater number of repre- 
sentative business and professional men, 
than of men who have been willing to 
devote themselves to this calling as a 
life work. Even the number of men 
who have been willing to identify them- 
selves with this movement as a volunteer 
working force has been out of propor- 
tion to the number of those with cor- 
responding mental and spiritual calibre 
who would serve in a secretarial capacity 

86 



"APPEAL TO COLLEGE MEN" 

as a rallying center for this volunteer 
force. 

II. What is the opportunity for 
usefulness in the general secretaryship? 
The service that a man can render to 
his fellow men must be the determining 
consideration in the choosing of any 
calling, but it is especially true of the 
ministry or the general secretaryship. 
We have here a ministry to young men, 
the greatest factor in the world's prog- 
ress. The Association stands for the 
physical, intellectual and spiritual bet- 
terment of this important class of the 
community. It is an all-round work, 
such as has been given to few if to any 
other agencies to carry forward. There 
is found in the Young Men's Christian 
Association a common platform on 
which mingle with unconscious ease, as 
on no other platform that the writer 
knows anything about, the Christian 
young man and the young man who 
has not yet acknowledged his allegiance 

87 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

to Christ. Young men are flocking 
into our buildings daily, in small places 
by the scores, and into our larger build- 
ings by the hundreds. They come for 
physical recreation, for social enjoy- 
ment, for intellectual improvement and 
sometimes for spiritual good. In any 
event they have displayed confidence 
in the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion. Their intellectual and spiritual 
suspicions are relaxed and they stand, 
as no other group of young men stand, 
in a position to be reached with refer- 
ence to their spiritual welfare. In 
a word, the Young Men's Christian 
Association offers the most fruitful and 
effective field for personal work among 
young men that is found in the world. 
The general secretaryship offers to 
men a life work. From the standpoint 
of actual experience, some of the leaders 
in Association work have been and are 
from fifty to sixty years of age. Inter- 
national secretaryships, State secretary- 

88 



"APPEAL TO COLLEGE MEN" 

ships, metropolitan secretaryships, and 
in some exceptional cases local secre- 
taryships, have all been acceptably 
filled and dignified in the incumbency 
by men who have reached the maturity 
of their powers during the sixth decade 
of their lives. 

III. What opportunity is offered 
for the exercise of the talents that God 
has given, and the education that has 
been secured at the cost of self-sacrifice 
or at the expense of others? Why does 
the general secretaryship of the Young 
Men's Christian Association make a 
special appeal to college men? The 
ideal man for the general secretaryship 
in our opinion is a college man w^ho has 
had some business experience; but in 
general the breadth of outlook, the bal- 
ance of judgment, that training of the 
mind which a college education affords, 
are all of the greatest service in the 
general secretaryship. 

The departmentalizing of the Young 

89 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

Men's Christian Association, which has 
been a marked feature of its history the 
past few years, has intensified its appeal 
to college men. The physical director- 
ship is no longer limited, as it once was, 
to the superintendency of the gymna- 
sium, but has to do with the physical 
lives of young men even up to the 
point of a medical diagnosis of their 
weaknesses and a prescription of exer- 
cise suited thereto, and all of this asso- 
ciated with the freest opportunity that 
is anywhere given to enter into the 
secrets of the lives of young men and 
to direct them to a higher level. The 
educational directorship, embracing in 
one case the management of eighteen 
hundred students, in others from five 
hundred to one thousand students, 
involves duties commensurate in impor- 
tance with those of a principal of a 
school or even the presidency of a col- 
lege. The secretaryship of the boys' 
departments, with the attention that is 

90 



"APPEAL TO COLLEGE MEN" 

being given to the principles of the 
new education in their development, 
involves familiarity with the latest 
pedagogical methods in the instruction 
of youth, and the most important plans 
that modern science has to suggest in 
promoting the physical as well as the 
mental and spiritual welfare of boys. 
The men who have been sent to foreign 
lands as Association secretaries, with- 
out exception, if the writer is not mis- 
taken, were college men, a college edu- 
cation seemingly having been regarded 
as a sine qua non in their selection for 
this important work. A new speciali- 
zation has also appeared in the conduct 
of the religious work, involving the 
direction of evangelistic meetings that 
in some instances reach regularly each 
week more than a thousand men, and 
the maintenance of Bible study depart- 
ments with their varied plans for reach- 
ing different types of men, with an en- 
rollment in some cases of five hundred 

91 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 



students. The discharge of duties in 
these responsible positions calls for the 
exercise of all the talents that God may 
have given to the best endowed college 
man, and the use of the most liberal 
and varied education that he may have 
enjoyed; and when he has passed from 
the position of specialist in any of these 
departments to that of general secre- 
tary, with a responsibility for the uni- 
fying of these various departments 
within the Association, giving direc- 
tion to each of these experts in his 
special line of work, and with an added 
responsibility for financial and business 
management, and for the proper pre- 
sentation of the Association's claims to 
the public, and for a thousand and one 
executive duties that press in upon him 
day by day, who does not see that 
there is scope here for the exercise of 
the most versatile talents and for the 
use of the most liberal education? 
IV. Will there be an opportunity 



''APPEAL TO COLLEGE MEN 9 ' 

in this work for maintaining my intel- 
lectual integrity? The general secre- 
taryship probably is not subject to 
other laws in this particular than any 
profession which involves executive 
along with other duties. The preacher 
who spends his mornings as well as his 
afternoons upon the street will soon 
lose his intellectual grasp. The phy- 
sician or lawyer who allows the burdens 
of his practice to interfere with his 
study of the most recent literature of 
his profession will invariably degene- 
rate, not only in his intellectual life, 
but as a practitioner. So the general 
secretary who allows himself to be 
swamped by executive duties will 
undoubtedly suffer in his intellectual 
life thereby. But I venture to say that 
there is the same intellectual stimulus 
for the general secretaryship that there 
is for the physician or lawyer, if not for 
the preacher or teacher. There are the 
study and promotion of educational 

93 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

and Bible study movements among 
young men, the maintenance of libraries 
and literary societies, the instruction of 
Bible classes, the contact with leading 
professional and business men, all of 
which are a source of intellectual stimu- 
lus. The college man who enters the 
general secretaryship with a broad out- 
look and an intelligent purpose need 
fear neither that he will throw away 
the education that he has secured, nor 
that the processes of education in his 
own life will halt as he enters that 
calling. 

V. What provision will it make for 
temporal support? Of course the gen- 
eral secretaryship is not the calling for 
a man who is going into his life work 
to make money. Neither for that 
matter is any one of the more useful 
callings. Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis 
tells us that the cook in the pastry 
department of the Parker House in 
Boston received a salary $1000 in 

94 



"APPEAL TO COLLEGE MEN" 

excess of that received by President 
Eliot of Harvard University, and that 
the average salary of the Congregational 
clergyman is $590 a year, while the 
sewer-diggers of Chicago receive $2. 25 
a day. But it is right that a college 
man should ask the above question, 
and that he should be told that the 
schedule of remuneration in the gen- 
eral secretaryship of the Young Men's 
Christian Association is equal tq, if not 
in excess of, that prevailing in the 
ministry and in the profession of teach- 
ing, and is adequate to the moderate 
needs of men in that position. 

VI. What qualifications are neces- 
sary for the general secretaryship? I 
may answer in the points of a paper on 
"The Twentieth Century Secretary" 
by one of the secretaries of the Inter- 
national Committee. He mentions 
seven qualifications: Leadership, ad- 
ministrative gift, personal magnetism, 
faculty for discovering men, consecra- 

95 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

tion, Christ-likeness, ability to train 
others for leadership in the work. To 
these nothing need be added. 



96 



From Minutes of Brooklyn Board 
or Directors 

The Executive Committee of the 
Board of Directors of the Brooklyn 
Young Men's Christian Association, 
have learned with profound sorrow of 
the death on July 18, 1906, of our be- 
loved general secretary, Rev. Edwin 
F. See. 

Mr. See had been the general secre- 
tary of the Association since 1886. 
When he came to the Association, the 
work in the new building at 502 Fulton 
Street had been inaugurated about six 
months, and it was in charge of that 
work that he first served as the execu- 
tive officer of the Board of Directors. 
Later, when the capacity of that build- 
ing was taxed to its utmost and it be- 
came apparent that the one building 
could not meet the requirements of the 
young men of so large a city, Mr. See 

97 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

led in the movement for the establish- 
ment of branches, and then represented 
the board in charge of the central Asso- 
ciation and branches. And in 1896, 
when this central Association became 
a branch, he served as general secretary 
of the Metropolitan organization. Un- 
der the wise, devoted and self-sacrific- 
ing leadership of Mr. See during all 
these years, the Association has contin- 
ued to grow and to become increasingly 
efficient, and its position in the com- 
munity more and more commanding. 
The last great step forward during 
Mr. See's administration was the rais- 
ing of the jubilee fund of $800,000, to 
erect buildings for three branches and to 
pay off existing mortgages, which was 
undertaken in 1900, and to be com- 
pleted in 1903 as a part of the Fiftieth 
Anniversary celebration. To Mr. See, 
more than to any other person, was 
due the success of the Association in 
completing this fund last December. 

98 



RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT 

His optimism and energy in that con- 
nection were unfailing. 

#J/» «*£. .At. .AA. M, 

"7V* "7V* TV* "TV* TV* 

Mr. See endeared himself to every 
member of the board, by his sterling 
Christian character, his unfailing cour- 
tesy and his self-sacrifice in the interests 
of the Association. Moreover, the 
young manhood of Brooklyn has lost a 
faithful friend, the Association an able 
counsellor and faithful executive; and 
his untimely death comes as a personal 
loss to every member of the boards and 
committees of management, and to the 
secretaries of the Brooklyn Association. 

His great influence beyond the limits 
of Brooklyn should also be noted. 
In the brotherhood of secretaries, he 
stood in the front rank. He was the 
"counsellor and associate of the Inter- 
national Committee" in the Bible work 
of the Association, and the general sec- 
retary of that committee has said that 

99 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

"to no man more than to him is due 
that fine development of the Bible study 
work of the Association, which is 
slowly getting a strong ascendency in 
the religious work of the organization. ' ' 
He was one of the most active members 
of the State Committee of New York 
Associations, also a trustee of the 
Springfield Training School and close 
adviser of its president. He was a 
member of the Governing Council of 
of the Religious Education Association 
of America, and chairman of the Young 
Men's Christian Association depart- 
ment of that association. Moreover, 
for anniversary occasions, conventions 
and conferences and summer institutes, 
he was in great demand. In a word, 
he gave himself with rare devotion to 
advancing the kingdom of God among 
men, and it may be truly said of him 
that he exemplified in the highest de- 
gree, that "sympathetic self-giving," 
which is the chief corner stone of Chris- 
100 



RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT 

tianity, and that he attained unto great- 
ness in the kingdom of God through 
following his Master, in becoming the 
servant of all. 

A devoted son, brother, husband, 
father, friend and fellow laborer has 
stepped over into the other room of the 
Father's Mansion. And we mourn, 
yet not as those without hope and com- 
fort. Be it ours to fulfill what would 
be his dearest wish in carrying forward 
the work of the Association to which 
he gave his life. 

Voted, that this minute be spread 
upon the records and that a copy be 
sent to Mr. See's family. 



101 



From Minutes or the International 
Committee, October 11, 1906 

Whereas, In the providence of our 
loving Father, Rev. Edwin F. See, for 
twenty years general secretary of the 
Brooklyn Association, passed away on 
July 18, aged 45 years: 

Resolved, That in his death the Asso- 
ciations of North America have lost not 
only one of their most influential, suc- 
cessful, and best loved secretaries, but 
also their greatest leader in the move- 
ment for the promotion of Bible study 
and religious education among men. 
He was one of the first to discern the 
needs and to discover and apply some 
of the principles of permanent success. 
By his inspiring example, by voice and 
pen, he rendered an invaluable service 
to the cause of Association Bible study. 
At the time of his death he was an 
honored and useful member of the Bible 
Study Advisory Committee. 

102 



RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT 

Resolved, That this memorial be 
spread upon the records of this Com- 
mittee ; that we express to his family 
our sincere sympathy ; and that a suit- 
ably engrossed copy of this resolution 
be sent to Mrs. See. 



103 



From Minutes of New York State 
Executive Committee, Janu- 
ary 17, 1907 

When the autumn meeting had been 
opened with prayer and the formal pre- 
liminaries, there came a hush — broken 
after a little by the chairman, saying : 
"This is the first, well-nigh the first 
meeting since his coming to us that we 
have missed Mr. See. The work, truly, 
the work he loved so well and served 
so unsparingly of himself, will go on 
under the auspices divine, but we, as 
we gather from time to time, so long 
as we remain, will mark the absence 
of his kindly presence, be reminded of 
his going away by wanting his pleasant 
companionship, his apt counsel, his 
steadfast interest. His brave example 
will never fail from our memories. May 
that example be effective ever in what 
we do and as wisely leave undone!" 

104 



RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT 

Then came the utterances of the 
others — those who had known him 
longest, the latest comers — speaking in 
no set order, telling of the circumstances 
and characteristics associated with the 
fellow member who will answer the 
roll call no more ; of his considerateness 
unfailing, his readiness to adapt and 
adopt — as far as might be under the 
well-established scope of the Committee 
or for the obvious good of its cause — 
the recommendations of any of the 
others, praising nothing for innovation's 
sake, opposing nothing for mere lack 
of precedent, the things and manner 
that made his personality so attractive 
and endeared ; his capacity for business 
and its dispatch, his intimate knowl- 
edge of the affairs of the Associations 
throughout the State and acquaintance 
with their officers and persons notable 
as helping or hindering the work, the 
spirituality he carried into all these 
things without weakness and with never 

105 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

a lowering of the dignity of the man, 
for a real man he was alway. In the 
stillness that followed the memories, it 
was 

Resolved, To put upon the records of 
the State Committee a solemn minute 
of remembrance and of our sorrow, and 
to communicate the expression of our 
sympathy and our regard, tender for 
his sake, to the winsome woman whom 
our friend left in sadness and mourning. 



106 



Memorial Service 

The following addresses were de- 
livered at the memorial service held in 
the auditorium of the Central Branch 
of the Brooklyn Association on the 
afternoon of Sunday, October 7, 1906. 
Tributes were also given by Mr. Edward 
P. Lyon, as presiding officer, and by 
Mr. George Foster Peabody, but manu- 
scripts were not obtainable. 

MR. SEE'S SERVICE TO THE YOUNG MEN 
OF BROOKLYN 

Mr. Edwix Packard 

It is a privilege in this company of 
those who have known and loved Mr. 
See, to speak a few words of grateful 
appreciation of his work for the young 
men of Brooklyn. I am thankful that 
the expression of this appreciation was 
not deferred till he had passed away. 

107 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

He knew how we loved and admired 
him. 

In 1885 when we needed a strong 
man at the helm, we asked him to give 
up a pastorate in which he was success- 
ful and happy, and to enter on this 
which has proved to be his life work. 
Brooklyn has had notable examples of 
young and useful lives in its citizenship. 

Dr. Storrs, you will remember, came 
to the Church of the Pilgrims when 
twenty-four years old. You know what 
his more than fifty years of service there 
meant to Brooklyn. 

Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall came to 
the First Presbyterian Church at the 
same age — twenty- four years — and after 
twenty years, memorable for a great 
though quiet influence on a multitude 
of lives, he was drawn away by the 
same passion for reaching and influenc- 
ing young manhood that led Mr. See 
to give up his pastorate. 

With these noble lives I love to 

108 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

associate another young life, that of our 
dear friend. Coming to us when twenty- 
five years old, for more than twenty 
years he has gone in and out among us. 
The summing up of his life by one 
whose ministry he attended in his later 
years seems to me most just. Dr. 
Clarke says : "Mr. See was a quiet man 
of tremendous force — an humble mind 
of rare and abundant wisdom. ' ' 

What has he done for the young men 
of Brooklyn? In St. Paul's Cathedral, 
that great creation of the genius of Sir 
Christopher Wren, among the imposing 
and statuesque monuments of England's 
great dead, you may read on the plain 
tablet marking his resting place — 
"Would you seek his monument look 
around you." I will not weary you 
with details of the great advance the 
Association has made under his admin- 
istration. Doubtless the Association 
would have made great gains if he had 
declined our call — but I will repeat 

109 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

what I have said publicly and in his 
hearing, that these noble buildings, 
which are now being occupied, would 
not be here now, or for many years to 
come, but for his wisdom, tact and un- 
failing courage and patience. They are 
truly his monument. Great and lasting 
as is the benefit he has conferred by 
making them possible, there is another 
still greater — the life which he has lived 
day by day these many years, touching, 
uplifting and inspiring hundreds and 
thousands of lives, a fountain of blessed 
influence that shall flow on forever. 



MK. SEE'S SERVICE TO THE YOUNG MEN 
OF BROOKLYN 

Mr. F. B. Schenck 

My first acquaintance with Mr. See 

was at the Y. M. C. A. convention 

which was held in Elmira, N. Y., 

February 18-21, 1886. Mr. Packard 

no 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

was then president of the Brooklyn 
Association and we needed a general 
secretary. Mr. Packard attended the 
convention during the first two days, 
when he was obliged to return to 
Brooklyn. When I arrived 1 asked 
him if he had found any man suitable 
for our secretaryship, and he said there 
was a young minister there who had 
been recommended to him by Rev. 
George A. Hall, and if I met him and 
liked him I might speak to him on the 
subject. When I heard Mr. See speak 
1 was so very strongly impressed in 
his favor that I asked him if he would 
consider a call to the Brooklyn Associ- 
ation, to which he replied that he 
should give such a call very serious 
consideration. Only a few days later 
a unanimous call was sent to him and 
very soon after he came to Brooklyn. 

At that convention Mr. See made 
the opening address, his subject being, 
"The Aim, the Needs and the En- 
111 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

couragements of the Young Men's 
Christian Associations." I recently 
read a copy of that address and found 
it contained one sentence which was so 
thoroughly characteristic of the man 
that I think it appropriate and inter- 
esting to read it to this audience : 

"While I make no promise of origi- 
nality, of striking suggestions, or even 
of profitable meditations in these re- 
marks, I do pledge you that they shall 
come from one whose heart beats in 
sympathy with yours, wherever the 
souls of young men are at stake, and 
who believes in the God-given ability 
of these Associations to help them, as 
he believes in the final triumph of 
right over wrong. ' ' 

As this quotation shows, Mr. See 
was an extremely modest man. He 
had deep sympathy for young men, an 
intense desire for their welfare, and, 
although he was a clergyman when he 
spoke at that time, he showed great 
112 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

faith in the work and the future of the 
Young Men's Christian Associations. 

When he came to Brooklyn there 
was but one Association building and 
his work lay mostly among the young 
men whom he met here. During the 
next few years, in his intercourse with 
young men of the city, he won the 
affectionate regard and esteem of hun- 
dreds if not thousands of young men as 
well as those of middle life. Later, 
when through his efforts the branches 
began to be established, his work was 
more largely of an administrative and 
executive character and he was brought 
into contact with older men all over 
the city. 

Only those who were closely associ- 
ated with Mr. See in those early days 
as well as in later days, could know of 
his long-suffering, painstaking, self- 
sacrificing labors in the cause of young 
men. He worked early and late, 
scarcely taking time for proper rest and 

113 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

recuperation. He gave of himself, of 
his life, of his means, of his friendship 
and his affections unstintingly for the 
welfare of young men and for the cause 
of his Master. His life is an example 
to us. He was a man almost without 
criticism. We all loved him and 1 for 
one felt absolutely sure of his friend- 
ship. Always sympathetic, always 
considerate, always ready to help so 
far as lay in his power. He never 
pushed himself forward, and always 
stood behind and let another man come 
to the front. Nevertheless he was a 
strong power. He had wonderful de- 
termination of purpose which, although 
exercised in the most gentle and kindly 
way, without apparent self-intrusion, 
carried with it such dogged persistency 
that the cause he urged was sustained 
and maintained in spite of obstacles, 
difficulties and discouragements. We 
mourn his loss. 



114 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

OUR GENERAL SECRETARY 
Mr. H. L. Simmons 

It is most appropriate for the em- 
ployed officers of the Brooklyn Asso- 
ciation to add their tribute to the 
memory of Mr. See, for while he was 
affiliated with numerous Association 
interests and many can rightfully claim 
him as friend and associate, he particu- 
larly belonged to us. 

We came to Brooklyn largely upon 
his invitation — for twenty years he was 
gathering us together from many states 
to cooperate with him in the work of 
the Association. During the first three 
years of his long administration he had 
nine different men as assistants, and 
during the entire twenty years two 
associates. Seventeen years ago he 
invited the first man to become a 
branch secretary, and since that time 
thirty-one others, making in all forty- 
eight men that he was directly respon- 

115 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

sible for. There have also been 137 
other employees, such as assistants, 
physical directors, librarians, boys' sec- 
retaries and bookkeepers, who came 
under the spell and charm of his per- 
sonality, besides janitors, office boys, 
clerks, etc., of the number of whom 
there is no record. One hundred and 
eighty leaders have passed under his 
hand and been moved and ennobled by 
his touch, thirty-seven of whom are 
now with the Brooklyn Association 
and most of the others in positions of 
trust and leadership elsewhere. The 
far-reaching influence of Mr. See's great 
service in this particular is beyond cal- 
culation. 

His relation to this group of men 
was many-sided. He was our sympa- 
thetic and loyal friend. Never effusive 
and seldom demonstrative, but always 
cordial and sincere, encouraging con- 
fidences and never too busy to listen to 
the secretaries' ' ' tale of woe. ' ' As one 

116 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

expressed it, he was a "tower of 
strength" and appeared to invite us to 
roll our burdens upon him. 

He was our pattern of faithfulness. 
We never knew him to shirk, no matter 
how much work was involved. Among 
his last words were these, "I have tried 
to do my duty. ' ' We always felt that 
he was doing his duty. It was impos- 
sible to be a drone in his hive ; indeed, 
he was a great incentive to honest and 
faithful endeavor. 

He was the bishop, by the divine 
right of superiority, of our intellectual 
and spiritual life. Scholarly and spirit- 
ually minded himself, he was always 
concerned lest our executive duties 
should separate us from the sources of 
power, and insisted upon our following 
some course of reading and study calcu- 
lated to cultivate the mental and soul 
faculties. And consequently the Brook- 
lyn group has always stood high in the 
secretarial brotherhood. 

117 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

I wish there were time to speak of 
his relation to the home life of the 
secretaries. Suffice it to say that he is 
remembered in our homes as a most 
charming guest. 

But above all, he was our general 
secretary, and as such our chief pride. 
He was one of the best balanced men 
in the brotherhood and a model metro- 
politan secretary — genial, consecrated, 
efficient. His large, generous tolera- 
tion and sympathy towards those who 
differed with him were always apparent. 
There was never a tyrannical imposing 
of his way of thinking upon others. 
He had the strong conviction that the 
living of life and the serving of others 
is the main thing. This quality reduced 
friction to a minimum and did much to 
make Mr. See the agreeable superior 
that he was. 

He never posed as our superior but 
always treated us as equals — like cabi- 
net officers in whose deliberations the 

118 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

youngest and least experienced was 
encouraged to participate. When all 
opinions were in and discussion closed, 
his judgment would be expressed as to 
the best policy to pursue and it was 
very seldom indeed that it did not com- 
mend itself to all as the fairest and 
wisest and best. 

He was also generous in giving credit 
to others. The remarkable growth and 
increasing efficiency of the Brooklyn 
Association during these twenty years 
were largely due to the wise and de- 
voted and self-sacrificing leadership of 
our general secretary, but he would 
never allow it to be said without con- 
tradiction that he had built up the 
Brooklyn Association to its present 
proportions. 

At the last annual dinner appropriate 
allusion was made to his great service 
to the young men of Brooklyn, and 
walking home that evening he ex- 
pressed strong regret that anything of 

119 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

the kind should have been said when 
he had no opportunity to reply and 
share the credit with others. I re- 
minded him that he was the general 
holding together and commanding the 
entire force, and that he should receive 
glory as the chief human instrument in 
the great accomplishments of these 
twenty years. But he refused to have 
it so and insisted that other faithful 
workers should equally share in that 
glory. 

#44- 44- 44- 44: Jut. 

W "TT W "TV" W 

He was certainly a rare executive — so 
quiet and humble and at the same time 
possessed of a mighty force and an 
abundant wisdom in getting things 
done; resourceful to an almost unbe- 
lievable degree so that no situation 
ever embarrassed him ; magnetic, tact- 
ful, unselfish, scholarly and spiritually 
minded. 

How he was esteemed and looked 
120 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

up to by the entire brotherhood may 
be gathered from the following extracts 
from letters of leading secretaries : 

"I know of no man who was of 
greater value to the movement. 5 ' 

' 'A master workman. ' ' 

"I admired him greatly for his man- 
ly Christian qualities. ' ' 

"His personality inspired me, his 
opinions guided me, and his genuine 
friendship called forth my love. ' ' 

"Almost any man could have been 
better spared. ' ' 

"He was to me a most lovable and 
attractive fellow. Gave me inspiration 
to be better and do better things. ' ' 

"Great loss to the Association." 
"No other combined so perfectly the 
ideals which I wished to emulate. ? ' 
' 'A noble, consecrated leader. ' ' 
"My ideal general secretary." 
"In my judgment, the leading figure 
121 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

among the employed officers for many 
years. ' ' 

He endeared himself to us all and his 
untimely death comes as a personal loss 
to every secretary and employed officer 
of the Brooklyn Association. More- 
over, we can scarcely believe that he 
has gone, and that he will not return 
at this time, as he confidently expected 
to do when he left the office in March, 
to lead our forces to the greater victo- 
ries yet before us. We outlined to- 
gether a policy and plan of work for 
the next five years, and as we seek to 
make those ideas practical, I am sure 
we shall be continually conscious of his 
inspiring and gracious presence and 
that he will "continue to speak in the 
lives he has deepened and broadened 
by his great life work." 

Strong Son of God, immortal Love, 

Whom we, that have not seen Thy face, 
By faith, and faith alone embrace, 

Believing where we cannot prove. 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

Forgive our grief for one removed, 
Thy creature, whom we found so fair, 
We trust he lives in Thee, and there 

We find him worthier to be loved." 



A PICTURE OF THE MAN 
Mr. Daniel W. McWilliams 

Recently in a home in this commun- 
ity a man was quietly thinking his own 
thoughts and "as he mused the fire 
burned." Almost unawares he spoke 
aloud the words, "A faultless man." 
One who overheard the remark said, 
"You are thinking of Mr. See." Such 
was the fact. Deliberately, after twenty 
years of fellowship with Mr. See in 
the best of all services, I say I never 
knew a man of whiter soul. Whence 
came that character? 

He was the product of the Christian 
church and the Christian home. Eight 
generations back Mr. Petruf See settled 
in Tarrytown and was one of the found- 

123 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

ers of the old Sleepy Hollow Church, 
whose building still stands and where 
services are still occasionally held. The 
date is on the building— "1697." The 
See family have been in that church or 
in its successor church all the interven- 
ing period. His father is an elder, as 
were his grandfather and his great- 
grandfather. The stamp of a godly 
ancestry was upon him. 

Our friend was born in January, 1861. 
When just past fourteen years old he 
stood before the altar of the church 
and confessed his faith in Christ. He 
began to think of the Christian minis- 
try. When nearing the age of sixteen 
years he entered Rutgers College, was 
graduated at twenty, and from the 
theological seminary three years later. 
At twenty-two he preached his first 
sermon in the ancestral church, where 
his only child, Philip, was baptized. 
He became pastor of an Albany church 
and during that pastorate he had a 

124 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

vision that led him into Association 
work. Of the results which came from 
his Association work I leave others 
to speak. 

He had a genial, sunny disposition; 
a keen sense of humor and love of in- 
nocent fun; a warm, devotional nature 
— was loving, sympathetic, modest, 
self-effacing, a man of high ideals and 
purposes. He was genuine, he hated 
shams and pretence. He never toler- 
ated superficial work, but sought to 
build on the most solid foundations. 
He was loyal to God, to his own con- 
science, to the church and to the truth. 
He had tremendous working capacity. 
He spared not himself. (How we 
wish that he had done so!) His meat 
and drink were to do the will of God 
in the service of his fellow men. He 
possessed a rare faculty of removing 
obstacles and of conciliating and recon- 
ciling men of different minds and of 
obtaining their loyal cooperation. He 

125 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

was a peacemaker. A man who had 
visions in his work yet was eminently 
practical, tactful, and possessing great 
executive ability. He discovered men, 
discerned what was in men and 
succeeded in enlisting them. 

His studious nature was early appar- 
ent. In college he obtained the prize 
for English composition. A lover of 
books, especially of the Book of Books ; 
of noble aims, of great humility and 
self-abnegation — disliked to be praised 
— an humble man of tremendous pur- 
pose. The words "no eulogy" were 
found in his handwriting on a paper 
which may be interpreted as referring 
to his funeral. We may think of hun- 
dreds of passages of the Scriptures as 
referring to his life — this is one of them : 
"Thy gentleness hath made me great. " 

In that noble band of about two 
thousand secretaries of Young Men's 
Christian Associations in this country, 
he stood among the very first. He 

126 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 



emphasized the religious and spiritual 
departments of Association work. We 
are indebted to Mr. See more than to 
any other man for the wonderful de- 
velopment in Bible study throughout 
Association circles. When he came to 
Brooklyn we had two Bible classes in 
the Association. When he was trans- 
lated we had eighty- two with thirteen 
hundred members. 

In his last lucid moments he said, 
"Let no one say that my life was a 
sacrifice to the work. ' ' He expressed 
regret that he could not be spared to 
raise an endowment for the work. He 
said: "My religion has not been of the 
emotions, but I have tried to do my 
duty. You may not have known it, 
but I have always dreaded death ; but 
I am not afraid." He said that his 
faith was stronger than it had ever been 
in the past. To his wife he said: "I 
want you to be happy now. It is all 
one life." After some further words 

127 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

to his loved ones, "Now we will say 
our prayer, ' ' and they said together the 
Lord's prayer. Then he repeated the 
long metre Doxology. Then he said : 
"It seems as if I could see into 
heaven. But I must not mix that 
with the things with which I am now 
concerned. ' ' 

His portrait is in St. Paul's love 
chapter: He suffered long and was 
kind; he envied not; he vaunted not 
himself; he was not puffed up; he 
never behaved himself unseemly; he 
sought not his own; was not easily 
provoked, he thought no evil, rejoiced 
not in iniquity but rejoiced in the 
truth; he bore all things, believed all 
things, hoped all things, endured all 
things. His love never failed. With 
him incarnate abode Faith, Hope, 
Love, those three ; and the greatest of 
those was Love. 

He sleeps but a few feet from the 
spot where, in the Sleepy Hollow 

128 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

cemetery, lie the mortal remains of 
that sunny-hearted man, Washington 
Irving. 

Imagine the gathering in the City 
of our God of such men as have made 
the Young Men's Christian Association 
what it now is: George Williams, 
Dwight L. Moody, William E. Dodge, 
first, second and third ; Elbert B. Mon- 
roe, Robert McBurney, Franklin Fair- 
banks, Major Whittle, Hugh Beaver, 
George A. Hall, and others like them. 

Be it ours, brothers, to ''follow in 
their train. ' ' 



CONTRIBUTION OF MR. SEE TO THE ASSO- 
CIATION CAUSE OUTSIDE OF BROOKLYN 
TO NEW YORK STATE COMMITTEE 

Mr. George A. Warburton 



We are not met to canonize our 
friend but to pay a sincere tribute of 
love to him. He had many qualities 



129 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

by which he bound himself to our 
hearts. Of course we respected him, 
his work compelled that, but respect is 
too cold a word. It implies detach- 
ment, distance, and gives no hint of 
that interchange of affectionate regard 
which was constant between his friends 
and him. 

When Robert Louis Stevenson lay 
dead in his Samoan home, an old chief 
said of him, "The day was no longer 
than his kindness." We adopt his 
language as our own and apply it to 
Mr. See. 

I cannot critically analyze my friend's 
qualities. His death has cut me too 
deeply, and his going out has left too 
big an empty place in this world for 
me to do it. I feel like turning to 
what Mr. Gladstone called "the rich- 
est oblation ever offered by the af- 
fection of friendship at the tomb of 
the departed" and dwelling upon "In 
Memoriam" to quiet the puzzling, in- 

130 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

sistent questionings of my own heart, 
Yet certain traits of his stand out as 
clearly as the hills of his own Hudson 
River did on this glorious fall morning. 
His most remarkable characteristic 
was the evenness of his development. 
No one gift seemed to shine conspic- 
uously. The whole level of his nature 
was so high that we sometimes forgot 
what altitude we were in. And it was 
this quality which made him notably 
useful to the State Committee during 
his twenty years of membership upon 
it. We did not think of him as a 
specialist, though in Bible study and 
college work he rendered large service, 
but his experience and judgment gave 
him remarkable influence in all depart- 
ments of the committee's work. He 
was strong as an originator of ideas 
and wise in all his judgments of those 
under consideration. While entirely 
unlike McBurney, he succeeded to his 
place as a leader in the development of 

131 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

Bible study and, first in this State, and 
afterwards more generally, he was able 
to awaken new interest in the outlining 
of courses and the formation of classes. 
His own ample training had led him 
to appreciate the value of correct meth- 
ods of instruction in Bible study and 
he constantly urged that idea upon the 
Associations of the country. 

To adequately portray Mr. See's 
connection with the State work would 
be to summarize the history of that 
work since he became connected with 
it as a member of the committee. 

The secretaries always leaned upon 
his judgment and followed his counsel. 
In every crisis it was Mr. See who 
pointed the way and indicated the 
proper procedure, and all the time his 
sanity, balance, avoidance of extremes, 
modesty, clearness, and absolute un- 
selfishness have been an element of 
incalculable strength to the whole com- 
mittee and especially to those who per- 

132 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

form the somewhat thankless and very 
arduous tasks of the field. 

I am persuaded that we have had 
few if any more useful men among us 
than Mr. See. A meteor blazes for a 
moment and is lost in the blue spaces, 
but the pole star shines forever in the 
same place. See's qualities were of 
the kind that men set their compasses 
by and are never led out of their 
courses. Eccentrics always increase 
friction in machines and among men. 
The concentric man is far more valu- 
able, even if not so showy. 

We shall miss the lesson of Mr. 
See's life if we do not grip ourselves 
more firmly in our efforts at self-mas- 
tery. He would teach us how a nor- 
mal life may be developed and how it 
may be exercised for the elevation of 
the race. His life message speaks of a 
mind rich, full and well-disciplined, 
under the control of a regal will ; of an 
emotional and religious nature fed by 

133 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

hidden springs that flowed into it from 
the very heart of God ; of a temper and 
attitude towards life which made him 
the embodiment of the thirteenth 
chapter of First Corinthians ; of an in- 
dustry that was untiring, a self-efface- 
ment that had no suspicion of insincer- 
ity and which proved the truth of the 
philosophy of Jesus, "He that loseth 
his life shall find it unto life eternal. ' ' 

He is not dead, my friend of other years, 

He lives forevermore. 
I dry my tears and look to find the shore 

Of that fair land where he in radiance waits, 
And journey on towards those open gates. 

O Christ, with whom thy saints are now at rest, 
Who here have wrought for Thee, the good 
and blest, 

Keep us who linger in this lower sphere, 
That we may choose, of all the paths 

That open to our feet, the very best : 
So may we be as fit as they are now, 

To live with Thee. 



134 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

CONTRIBUTION OF MR. SEE TO THE ASSO- 
CIATION CAUSE OUTSIDE OF BROOKLYN 
TO INTERNATIONAL COMMIT- 
TEE AND THE SPRINGFIELD 
TRAINING SCHOOL 

Mr. Richard C. Morse 

The Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion is now a world brotherhood. Upon 
Sir George Williams' tomb in St. 
Paul's Cathedral in the heart of London 
might be fittingly inscribed the words, 
' 'If you seek his monument look around 
the world." If we undertake such a 
look we find the Association in all 
lands, locating itself in the heart of the 
great cities of every continent, and 
occupying at the present moment build- 
ings worth over forty millions of dollars. 
When Mr. See came to Brooklyn, 
twenty years ago, the world brother- 
hood had barely one tenth of this sum 
invested in buildings. This tremen- 
dous growth has been an evolution. 

135 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

The latest buildings are great improve- 
ments upon the original ones, and more 
Association money is now being spent 
in improving or substituting old build- 
ings than in putting up first buildings. 
The bulk of this money has been and is 
being freely given by men of business 
because they see and desire to promote 
a well defined work by young men for 
young men in the strenuous life of the 
cities of our age — cities large and small. 

These men with money have also 
given intelligence and good will. 
Associated with them are other laymen 
like minded who give less money but 
more time to this work as responsible 
officers and active committeemen. 

But these leaders and workers see 
that to make this work what it is and 
what it is becoming in these buildings, 
men are needed to give their lives to it 
— men of brains and consecration wholly 
concentrated upon this as the passion 
and endeavor of their lives. The quality 

136 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

of the work has its origin in the quality 
of these men. Whatever excellence 
and power it now has to commend it to 
the general world approval which it is 
receiving, has depended on the excel- 
lence and the power to command this 
approval possessed by these secretaries. 

If you ask where did the prominent 
leaders of this band of life workers in 
the American Associations come from, 
the reply will be from Greater New 
York. Two names stand out distinctly 
as the names of the men of vision and 
leadership who have been preeminent 
in giving its shape and excellence to 
that type of Association work which is 
getting such currency around the world 
as to command these buildings and to 
win the men and money needed for the 
work in them. 

These names are Robert R. Mc- 
Burney and Edwin F. See. Robert 
McBurney laid the foundation and 
Edwin See built upon it, adding to it 

137 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

those features of strength and effective- 
ness to which allusion has already been 
made. 

When the secretaries of this conti- 
nent have come together in conference 
of late years Mr. See has stood among 
us as a leader always ready to sound the 
new note of progress. Here in your 
city under his leadership was worked 
out in the physical, educational and 
boys' departments, in Bible study and 
evangelistic and personal work what 
gave to his fellow secretaries informa- 
tion and stimulus. 

Then the manliness, the courage, the 
cheer, the lovable qualities which made 
him so attractive to young men gave 
him leadership also among his fellow 
secretaries from all parts of this and 
other lands. 

As he grasped and developed the 
work here he felt the obligation it laid 
upon him to expend a portion of his 
effort in conveying the result to his 

138 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

fellow secretaries in other cities and 
they recognized him as one who was 
able to show them the way to better 
achievement. 

As the activities and usefulness of 
the secretarial office became visible to 
him he was deeply and intelligently 
impressed with the need of trained sec- 
retaries in all the Associations. With 
wise forecast he gave unselfish endeavor 
as a trustee of one of our Secretarial 
Training Schools to making that insti- 
tution efficient in educating men for the 
secretaryship. 

Thus he was not only an exception- 
ally efficient secretary of one of the 
leading Associations of this continent 
and the world ; he was also an Associa- 
tion statesman of vision and ability 
sufficient to make his influence felt 
throughout the brotherhood. 

To International Association super- 
vision he made material contribution. 
His influence was indispensable to the 

139 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

best achievements of the State and 
International organizations. He was 
a friend and promoter of Association 
extension into the non- Christian world. 

As American citizens we count it a 
great advantage to the Republic that 
in the beginning of its life its first 
president was a man of such preemi- 
nent qualifications as George Wash- 
ington, that the first secretary of the 
treasury was Alexander Hamilton ; the 
first secretary of state Thomas Jeffer- 
son; the first two chief justices of the 
supreme court John Hay and John 
Marshall. 

These men were then greater than 
the offices they held. Their personality 
gave dignity, character and efficiency 
to these high offices of state. 

A service similar to this was rendered 
by Robert McBurney and Edwin See 
in their relation to the secretarial office. 
They brought to it talents, ability and 
consecration which caused it to com- 

140 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

mand confidence and attract qualified 
associates. They wrought out for the 
Associations a work among young men 
that wins approval throughout all the 
nations and races. And all his succes- 
sors in the Association secretaryship 
here and elsewhere will cherish the 
name and memory of Edwin F. See, 
finding in him a noble example and 
lifelong inspiration to unselfish Christ- 
like endeavor. 

CONTRIBUTION OF MR. SEE TO THE 
RELIGIOUS LIFE OF BROOKLYN 

Rev. Theo. L. Cuyeer, D. D. 

My feelings this afternoon are a 
pendulum between a smile and a tear; 
between heartfelt gratitude and heart- 
felt grief. When I recall the splendid 
work wrought by our beloved Brother 
See, and the glorious reward he is now 
enjoying, I am ready to strike a note 
of thanksgiving; but when I realize 

141 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

that his busy hand is motionless in the 
grave and his eloquent voice silent, I 
cannot keep back the tears. 

During the fifty-two years of my 
membership in the Young Men's 
Christian Association I have had an 
intimate acquaintance with the master 
workmen — with Sir George Williams 
and William Edwin Shipton in Eng- 
land, and in this country with Robert 
McBurney and George Hall. To this 
golden group belonged Edwin F. See. 
Twenty years ago God's hand led him 
to this city and that hand guided him 
to the last. His parish was all Brook- 
lyn; his mission was the salvation, in 
the full sense of that great word — the 
salvation for this world and another 
world — of Brooklyn's young men. He 
did not spend his time and strength on 
the outside rind of a young man's life — 
he struck for the core. His one aim 
was to enthrone Jesus Christ in a young 
man's conscience; to sweeten a young 

142 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

man's heart with Christ's love; to for- 
tify that heart against temptation by 
the enthronement of the cross ; to make 
life worth living in this world and 
heaven certain in the next world. 
While he did not undervalue the gym- 
nasium for the physical health, or the 
Association rooms for social enjoyment, 
or the library for intellectual profit, yet 
he made all these converge on a young 
man's becoming a courageous and use- 
ful Christian. As in England all roads 
lead to London, so all the lines of 
Brother See's activities led straight to 
Calvary's cross for redemption and to 
Christ's commandments as the only 
rule for daily conduct. 

About the strongest argument for 
such a Christian character was Edwin 
F. See himself. Eloquent as were his 
lips, yet more eloquent was his life. 
Oh, that life was a beautiful sermon 
in shoes — upright in daily walk, swift- 
footed in seeking for young men's 

143 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

hearts, and treading in the straight 
track marked out by his Lord and 
Master! For twenty busy years he 
wrought a magnificent work here that 
was not surpassed by any pastor or 
any philanthropist in Brooklyn. The 
strokes he struck echoed in heaven. 
At my age of eighty-four, I supposed 
that my beloved brother would natu- 
rally survive me by many a long year. 
But that stealthy and treacherous dis- 
ease that carried off Spurgeon and Dr. 
Behrends and so many soldiers of Christ 
Jesus, fastened its incurable hold upon 
him and laid his handsome face on a 
dying pillow. While that face was 
growing thin and pale by the touch of 
the fatal malady, it was brightened by 
a beatific vision ; a celestial light illu- 
mined that pallid countenance. To his 
loving wife, who sat by his bedside, he 
said : ' ' My faith is strong. 1 can see 
into the heavenly world. ' ' Let infidel- 
ity stand dumb before such a revelation 

144 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

as that! Oh, what unanswerable evi- 
dence was that for the transcendent 
truth of the immortality of the soul! 
Who could for a moment believe that 
Almighty God would create such a 
gifted soul as Edwin F. See, and that 
the Lord Jesus Christ would redeem 
such a soul by His precious blood, and 
the Holy Spirit would inspire him for 
a career of splendid usefulness, and then 
that soul could be blotted out in an 
instant and extinguished forever and 
ever? Such a supposition is impossible. 
For his own sake I rejoice that our 
beloved brother is among the crowned 
conquerors in glory; but for Brooklyn's 
sake I would fain have kept him still 
with us. 

He still lives! He now beholds us 
as we are gathered in this building, the 
beloved scene of his holy and his happy 
toils. Methinks we can hear his voice 
sounding down to us from those upper 
spheres, ''Save Brooklyn's young men 

145 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

for Jesus!" Listen to him again: 
"Bring the young men to Jesus!" 
6 'Bring the young men to Jesus /' ' And 
let our response to his trumpet call be, 
"Yes, we will, we will; God helping 
us, we will!" 

CONTRIBUTION OF MR. SEE TO THE 
RELIGIOUS LIFE OF BROOKLYN 

Rev. S. Parkes C adman, D. D. 

I am sorry that another important 
engagement has prevented me from 
sharing in the solemn privilege of the 
hour, and that I have been compelled 
to forego the tender words of truth and 
profit which this audience has been 
hearing from the preceding speakers. 
Doubtless you already know that the 
outstanding impression of Edwin F. 
See's blessed memory is Edwin F. See 
himself. I shall repeat that and empha- 
size it. A man is greater in what he is 
than in what he does. And the per- 

146 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

sonal character of Mr. See was strongly 
marked by gentleness and strength. 
He did not cry nor strive nor cause his 
voice to be heard in the streets. But 
he unremittingly toiled with steadfast 
purpose and true humility that the 
kingdom of his Master might be estab- 
lished in these parts. His modesty 
was the outcome of his profound con- 
viction of the greatness of the causes 
he was privileged to serve. It was the 
sensitive demeanor of a saint whose 
vision had been adjusted to the heaven- 
ly perspective and who walked this 
earth held in the hand of his God, to 
whom he gave unceasing devotion and 
praise. 

He did not shine because he meant 
to shine, but because he was luminous 
with an unconscious goodness which 
made him a true light falling on many 
a perplexed pathway. The memory 
of his just and beautiful life is blessed. 

Behind the outward carriage of the 

147 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

man there was an inexhaustible supply 
of Christian virtue, courage, wisdom, 
aspiration, hope and faith. He never 
faltered, he never grew weary, his 
heart was matched by his brain, and 
in unison they planned and executed 
statesmanlike projects which held 
Brooklyn's best business men in their 
grip. 

So this character bore fruit after its 
kind in a far-flung line of institutions 
which baffled sin and made a new and 
a living way for the young men, yea, 
for all the men of this borough of a 
million and a half souls. That way 
today is full of cleansed bands of pil- 
grims who give glory to God for the 
man who led the forward march of the 
Young Men's Christian Association. 

He was a member and a minister of 
the reformed Church of Holland in 
America, and he contributed to all our 
churches the excellence of that splen- 
did and historical spiritual corporation. 

148 



MEMORIAL SERVICE 

It had taught him the vital creed 
which transformed William the Silent 
and inspired Arminius the theologian. 
It had shown him how to endure, to 
suffer, to overcome, and latest, to wit- 
ness great things brought to pass by a 
beautiful testimony. 

We do not wonder now that when 
the day's work was over and he lay 
down to rest in God, his passing hence 
was a revelation to his loved ones. 
He had brought into captivity every 
thought unto the obedience of Christ. 
The river he had to cross was fordable 
and all the trumpets were ready to 
sound for him on the other side. Such 
was the service our brother gladly ren- 
dered to Brooklyn's religious life; the 
service of a spotless name, of a holy 
life, of a pure heart, of a masterly 
arrangement of the spiritual dynamics 
to the crying needs of men. And if 
we have been waiting for God in out- 
ward demonstrations, in the fire, and 

149 



LIFE OF EDWIN F. SEE 

the hurricane, and the earthquake, let 
us not forget "the voice of gentleness 
and love" of this reverent, stainless 
Knight of Jesus, who fell on the field, 
in all his armor, fully, knightly. That 
voice bids us exalt work into sacrifice, 
and character into living deeds. We 
shall meet him again in the perfect day 
which has no ending. 



150 



?£C 308 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 1 1 



